AwaitingLaunch_1397728623369

content of ICoC is beyond the competence of the Committee. In order to
seek solutions aimed at enhancing long-term sustainability of outer space,
the promoters insist on using different fora due to the lack of consensus,
institutional bureaucracy or inefficiency of COPUOS. Is this alternative the
best way to go about? It should be recalled that ctates are responsible for
establishing the operating rules of the Committee.
According to resolution 1472 (XIV) of the General Assembly, the duties of
the Committee are:
•
•
To review, as appropriate, the area of international cooperation, and
to study practical and feasible means for giving effect to programmes
in the peaceful uses of outer space which could appropriately be
undertaken under United Nations auspices, including, inter alia:
Assistance for the continuation on a permanent basis of the research
on outer space carried on within the framework of the International
Geophysical Year;
Organisation of the mutual exchange and dissemination of
information on outer space research;
Encouragement of national research programmes for the study of
outer space, and the rendering of all possible assistance and help
towards their realisation;
To study the nature of legal problems which may arise from the
exploration of outer space;
According to Becerra (2012), the Committee is a subsidiary body of the
General Assembly in charge of promoting international cooperation in the
space sector (including scientific, technical and legal aspects), which provides
recommendations to the Assembly through resolution and reports, giving it a
political character (since Member States are interacting); international
cooperation is not only or purely technical. As part of the UN system, the
Committee has the capability to interact and communicate with all
organisations within the system to fulfill the main objective of the UN
Charter, which is to preserve international peace. Although the Committee
has not clearly established operating rules, it has flexibility to create the best
working condition, all under the direction of Member States.
174 | Awaiting Launch: Perspectives on the Draft ICoC for Outer Space Activities